


Hot Buttons

by trillingstar



Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Male Friendship, Oz Magi, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-22 03:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17655521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trillingstar/pseuds/trillingstar
Summary: Dino's heart grows three sizes. AU slice-of-life, no Oz.





	Hot Buttons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BestApplePie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BestApplePie/gifts).



> Thanks to Ozsaur for letting me bend her ear on this one. 
> 
> It's "Gintare" on imdb, so here she's Gina.  
> 

The sum of it is that Dino has been in more drunken bar fights than he can remember, and more sober fights than he wants to remember. Over the years Gina has remained less impressed with the sober times, when what he ends up needing is a ride and maybe a late-night trip to the ER. 

_\--"Bailing you out is a lot different than taking off work, calling Maggie, begging her to come stay with the kids, maybe have to cook a meal or give her money for pizza, you get where I'm going with this Dino, right? To come track you down, drive around in circles for god knows how long. Gotta ride back with you too, when you're frankly really fucking unpleasant to be around. Are you hearing any of this?" --_

He's bellied up to the bar, lingering over the dregs of his pint, when he spots a guy edging along behind the row of barstools, trying to get to a far table. Autopilot engages. Dino sweeps the guy up and down with a glance, picking out his vulnerabilities. 

Usually Dino's successful at pushing back against whatever's angering him, so no, Gina, for the last fucking time, he doesn't need any kind of bullshit feelings therapy. She's been chipping away at him on that one for years but Dino's never going to go so now he pretends to ignore her, which irritates her, so they're both annoyed.

Tonight he turns in his seat as the guy gets closer, waiting until he draws near, and then Dino stands suddenly. A flick of his wrist and the last swill of beer splashes onto his own shirt. 

He looks down at the growing stain on his chest, looks up, and sneers.

*

Dino lashes out at the guy because he'd been wearing boots that looked like Dino's daddy's boots. His mind helpfully supplied the _clump-clump_ sound of those boots patrolling the hallway in front of his childhood bedroom. That'd been after Dino's mom died, when his papa couldn't hug Dino, but could make him feel safe.

Memories interfere with reality when the gold blaze of anger flashes through him, and Dino's immediately enraged that some skinny-ass fuckface has got the same boots.

*

"What? No. No, Gina," Dino says, trying not to whine. He's already settled in for the afternoon. There's cold beer and chips, his team colors, and the Dodgers game on the big projection screen downstairs.

"Oh, yes, Dino," Gina replies, sassy, one hand on her hip as she leans against the doorframe. She's also unswayed by Dino's gestures at his lap full of snacks and remotes. "You've known about this barbeque since last month! Tape the dumb game. You're coming with us today."

"Where," Dino moans, grabbing a handful of potato chips and crunching them morosely. 

Gina yanks the bag away from him. "New neighbors, I told you all of this already. Come on, Dino, I hate this! I'm not your fuckin' social secretary."

"Fuck! Fine," Dino snaps. "I'll be upstairs in fifteen."

"Make it ten," Gina says, withering, as she starts up the stairs. "And your breath better be minty fresh."

As soon as she's gone from sight, he chugs the rest of his beer, opens another, and chugs that one too.

*

They bring balloons and Dino's famous cold pasta salad that Gina always takes credit for.

A pretty Italian lady meets them at the door. She and Gina have clearly met before and even the kids seem thrilled to see her. Dino wonders when everyone made friends without him. 

"It's Chiara, but call me Kee," she says, smiling, and then quirks an eyebrow at whatever's showing on Dino's face. "And 'Dino' is so mainstream."

Gina's all smiles too as she teases, "Kee's from right near where I grew up, only she moved away before we could become friends."

"My husband's in the backyard, look for the cloud of smoke," Kee says, gesturing to the crowd of people in the house, mingling, just a bunch of quasi-strangers making small talk. It's all irritating shit that Dino hates doing, and Gina owes him big time for this. She can repay him with sex. Butt sex. And all the laundry for a month, not just the folding part.

Dino Jr.'s tugging on his sleeve, so Dino puts down the baby and follows as they toddle off together, steering him toward the back of the house like they're homing pigeons. Dino'll do anything to escape that crowded living room. He's a lone fuckin' wolf, tonight. Awwooo. 

Except… the backyard is easily twice the size of theirs, and it's set up like a chef's wet dream. Paths made of paving stones invite him to an array of cookery equipment: pizza oven; open wood grill; a fire pit with an actual metal roasting spit. At the other end is an expanse of sand and wood mulch with a swing set and playhouse. Clusters of chairs and loungers dot the whole yard, and Dino notes the various low-water plants and flowers with satisfaction. Pisses him off when people don't follow the rules like that. If his lawn's gotta suffer, so does everybody else's.

Dino ducks his head, smiles a little and nods at the people gathered near the keg and ice chest. He grabs a beer. There's a teenager popping bottlecaps and collecting them for some reason so Dino obliges, then drifts closer to the open wood fire next to the kiln. Dude at the grill's got his back to Dino, but he's wearing an apron and waving around a spatula, so Dino clears his throat to announce himself and goes for it. "Is this your place? Because it is killer."

*

Turns out that the reason the backyard resembles Heaven is because Emilio is a chef. Turns out he's a line cook at that new Spanish tapas place up on Third. Turns out that he'd gotten his culinary training at the same place that Dino'd gotten his, the C.I.A.. That joke never gets old.

Most of the guests leave by sunset, but there are still kids chasing fireflies in the dusky twilight, and there's another round of marshmallow roasting over at the fire pit. As the night gets darker, someone switches on strings of lights that curl around the top of the fence and replaces the louder party music with something slower, jazzier. Kind of like background music at a restaurant, which makes Dino chuckle. 

By now, he's on his sixth or seventh beer, but he's not feeling at all combative. It's the opposite -- he doesn't have many friends who understand how intense he is when it comes to cooking, and that he and Emilio can talk about food, in the _language_ of food, is such a relief. Soon Dino's shared where to get the freshest oysters, and the trick to talking to the local butcher. 

"His name's Peter, but he's trying to get everyone to refer to him as 'The Butcher,' so he won't respond to anything else." 

They even sneak out the back gate and stand near the trash and recycling bins, where Emilio bums a cigarette from Dino, and then another. Dino can't remember having laughed so hard.

*

Later, he surprises Gina with a lingering kiss and two wandering hands. She grins at him, reaching up to touch his face, and suddenly they're making out up against the bathroom wall. Dino pretty much crushes the woven hamper when he steps on it in his urgency to get naked, and they're laughing in between kisses, stumbling towards the bed.

*

Turns out Emilio has also always wanted to own a food truck selling Italian-Latin fusion cuisine.

 

 

 

 **Coda** , after Dino learns about Emilio's HIV status and reacts poorly:

Dino mopes for weeks before Gina tells him to get his fucking shit together and get out from under her feet.

 _\--"I have a routine, Dino! Why are you so hung up on this completely insig-fucking-nificant detail. You guys've been in each other's back pockets, I thought that meant something to you."_ and, _"Quit being so ignorant, oh my god. It's like you're permanently trapped in 1983. I don't want to see hide nor fucking hair of you until you fix this. Got it?" --_

And yeah, he gets it. Gets what an asshole he is, how much of a rube he acted like, and what he understands most is that he misses his best friend Emilio but he has zero idea how to approach it, let alone work anything out.

He kind of whines about it to Peter one day.

Peter takes a long, slow drink from his beer, looks at him and says, "What the fuck, man, you used to be cool."  


**Author's Note:**

> Wish 7  
> Request 2:  
> Pairing/Character(s): Dino Ortolani and Emilio Sanchez  
> Keyword/Prompt Phrase: Friendship  
> Canon/AU/Either: Either  
> Special Requests: No Said pls. Otherwise I'm open to anything, I'm so starved for these characters! If you can fit Petey in somehow, be it just mentioned in a sentence or two, that would be cool :3  
> Story/Art/Either: Story  
> 
> 
> Originally posted [here](https://oz-magi.livejournal.com/166442.html?format=light) for Magi 2018.  
> 


End file.
